


I will (if you would only let me)

by Kiimo



Category: One Piece
Genre: (btw nami/vivi is only in the background sowwy), (but they still end up together), (for the time displaced sanji and zoro), Emotionally Repressed, M/M, Married Couple, Mutual Pining, POV Vinsmoke Sanji, Pining, Pre 2 years break, Sexuality Crisis, Slow Burn, Time Travel, Time displaced Sanji and Zoro, the original character aren't very important btw it's for plot stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:34:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22877128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiimo/pseuds/Kiimo
Summary: When a pair of 30 year old time displaced Sanji and Zoro fall from the sky and onto the deck of the Sunny, the entire Strawhat crew crowds them with questions, incredibly curious about their futures. That is until Sanji and Zoro notice the rings on the hands of their future selves. And then everything starts to go to shit.Or : Zoro and Sanji learn they get married in the future and deal with that information in the worst possible ways.
Relationships: Nami/Nefertari Vivi, Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 59
Kudos: 363





	1. Falling Free

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first actual fic since I was about 14 (and still it's the longest thing I wrote). I stopped reading One piece in like 2016 and got brutally pulled back in the last week. Im still not caught up with all the chapters, but I had a whole thing develop in my head and you know what they say: if you want something done right, do it yourself. 
> 
> So I guess I'm writing this. The first 2 and a half chapters are finished, and I have an outline for the rest of the fic, so I'm relativly confident in my abilities to finish it. It'll probably last 6-7 chapters.  
> Also, english isn't my first langage so I'm sorry if some bits sound strange/have weird grammar. I'm doing my best, but if you catch mistakes I would appreciate you telling me about them.  
> Also also the point of views in this chapter are all over the place but then I started to get my shit together and the rest of the fic actually is from Sanji's point of view.
> 
> OH and the title is from Mitski's song 'I will' because im a moron and an home of sexual

Luffy is the first to notice them. He’s perched on the prow of the ship, oblivious to the dangers of falling into the sea and drowning, even though it happened to him countless times already, when he sees the two men falling out of the sky. He curiously looks as they get closer and closer to the ship, and then realises that maybe he has to do something to keep those two random guys from cracking their heads open on his boat. He stretches out and the two bounce on his stomach like on a trampoline. They both look oddly familiar, but it’s only when they bounce off his skin and sit up on the boards of the ship that he recognises his nakamas. Already running up to Sanji and Zoro, he yells out to them ‘Sanji ! Zoro ! What are you two doing falling out of the sky ? Does it have something to do with some delicious meat you’re cooking for me ? » His screams eventually make the rest of his crew come out on the deck of the ship.

And that’s when everyone realises : there’s two pairs of sanji and zoro on this ship. Immediately Sanji, who’s still holding a pan from the kitchen throws a flying kick to his double, only to be blocked by a pair of blades. Zoro’s double blocked the attack, which only makes everyone else more suspicious, because only evil doubles of Sanji and Zoro would protect each other like that. The regular Zoro, who was enjoying a nap on the deck, and who’s pretty pissed at having been woken up so suddenly, comes at his double, blade swinging, only to be thrown hard against the gunwage by a flaming leg. Shocked at having been defeated so easily, he stares back at the cook’s double, only to notice some differences between this version and the blonde asshole he knows. The man’s shoulders are broader, his arms seem thicker, his jaw is in more of a square shape, and there are some lines crossing his face, deepening his brow. Most notably, his bang covers his left eye, revealing… a perfectly normal, deep blue right eye ! Does the shitty cook have absolutely no reason for his stupid hairstyle ?

Not about to let themselves be defeated in one hit, Sanji and Zoro run up to these strange doubles again, but the battle doesn't last long before they realise they’re terribly underpowered. The fight only stops when Luffy takes the doubles in his outstretched arms and forces them to sit on the other side of the boat. They all get the feeling the strange pair chose to let themselves be subdued though, and that they could easily take on their captain. The thought is a chilling one, and Sanji doesn’t lose time before going up to this shifty powerful double who isn’t even hiding the proper eye and yelling out ‘Who the hell are you supposed to be and what are you doing here ?! » As he yells out, he realises the other Zoro also really doesn’t look right, a large white scar covering his wide torso, another holding his left eye closed. Something is definitely wrong here.

« I’m you, you immature asshole! » That shuts the crew up. A bewildered Zoro is the first one to ask « What ? » His double answers, anger in his voice « We’re you idiots.From the future I assume. We’re 29 and no I have no idea how and why we got there but I swear we’re the real Zoro and Sanji. And really, after all the shit you’ve seen, is it really that hard to believe ? » Luffy interomps him by poking his scared eye, apparently fascinated. From the back of the crew, Robin says « well he’s got a point. We have seen weirder things »

One by one, the Strawhats begin to believe the two men fallen from the sky. Because really, what good reasons would they have to lie anyway ? And they do look like older versions of their friends. Zoro and Sanji still look bewildered by the whole thing but they start to pick up their jaws from the floor when questions start to fuse.

« How’ s the future ? » « What happened to your eye ? » « Did we do it ? »  
« Am I pirate king ? » blurts out an exited Luffy. The time displaced swordsman and cook grin at their young captain. « Of course » answers Sanji, while Zoro says « never had a moment of doubt captain ». Luffy laughs, bouncing on his heels and holding his hat. He holds his hands to the two men still sitting on the floor and pulls them into a big bone crushing hug. After that, the young Sanji and Zoro seem to relax a bit around these strange mirror versions of themselves. Zoro asks about the scars, and his future self tells him about Mihawk. He asks, almost fearful, if he became the greatest swordsman, and the older man puts his hand on his shoulder, and tells him that yes, he did, a proud grin spreading on his cheek. At the same time, Sanji asks about All Blue, and his older self tells him about the marvelous sea and all its fishes, tells him about the restaurant he runs.

It’s Nami who asks the two men if they know how they got here, in this time. The question seems to immediately annoy Sanji, who angrily answers “Well a fucking hole appeared in our kitchen and what does this stupid asshole do when he sees a huge hole that couldn’t possibly exist appear out of thin air? He jumps in of course! So I followed him because I’m not about to let this bastard die or have the greatest adventure of his life without me, and then we were falling free. Thank god monkey boy over here caught us or we would be feeding the fish.” The younger Sanji is reeling from seeing his older self talk in such an angry tone of voice to the perfect Nami, and it takes him a while to notice something strange in the older man’s speech. Their doubles are arguing “What, did you think you saw sake in there so you had to jump in without even telling me about it?” when he blurts out “Our kitchen?” The older men stop in the middle of angrily pointing and shouting at each other to stare at the 19 year old.

But then Sanji notice the ring. A plain silver ring on his older self ring finger. And the questions fuse out again. Does he settle down with the loveliest woman ever ? How beautiful is she? What’s her name? Does he know her already? The younger chef is so happy at the prospect he might burst. For a romantic sap like him, having the confirmation of a wedding in his future is such great news ! But as he’s already crowding the older man with questions about his perfect bride, heart in his eyes, he notices the blush on his future self cheeks, the looks thrown to the older swordsman, who is also blushing ? His look drops to the other man’s hand, that’s decked with an identical ring. His heart drops in his chest. “Our kitchen”. The way older Zoro’s blades came up to block his kick, and how his older self paired Zoro’s attack, as natural and automatic as breathing. A yell from the marimo is all it takes to confirm he too noticed the rings and their, oh so horrifying implications. The older men, who were enjoying telling tales of their successes, now look like they’d rather be anywhere else. Sanj is rubbing his neck, and Zoro is looking at the sky, the floor, his shoulder, anywhere but at their younger selves.

At younger Sanji’s side, Zoro appears to be as appealed as him, and blurts out at his future self : « Did you.. . with.. .him ? » The older swordsman smiles apologactly and waves his ringed up hand. « It sort of just...happened yeah. » 19 year old Sanji doesn’t think he can go lower than that but his need to retch is increased by tenfolds when he hears a chuckle that sounds so much like his, followed by his future self saying « Yeah, that’s a good way to put it I guess ». His voice is dripping with so much affection and love, and when the younger chef raises his head he sees the look of pure adoration the older men are sharing and oh god, he can’t take this anymore.

At the same time, he hears Zoro asserting he’s gonna go puke real quick and, yeah, he’s pretty sure he could join him right now. They do both end up bent over the side of the ship, while the rest of the crew crowds over the older pair, asking them endless questions about their common future. The worst thing about this, well, one of the worst thing at least, Sanji thinks as he wipes the side of his mouth, is that no one in the rest of the crew seem surprised by this absolutely ridiculous turn of events. “Yohoho, how long have you been married?” asks Brook, before singing a sickening love ballade celebrating the pair’s answer of “5 years”. 5 years. God that’s so close. What the fuck. Sanji would puke again but his stomach is empty, so he just clutches his arm and avoids looking at the swordsman.

They learn Luffy is the one who officiated (or will officiate?) the ceremony. The traitor! Apparently it was in the middle of a deadly fight? God, and he’s repeating himself, but what the fuck. Luffy is way too happy to learn he gets to wed his friends, jumping all over the ship with glee. “And is there cake? Are you the one who baked it Sanji?”  
“Well there was cake but I wasn’t the one to make it and we didn’t really have time to eat it. It was kind of a life or death situation and it just...” he looks at Zoro with such disgusting affection Sanji think he can puke with nothing in his stomach anyway “seemed like it might be the last moment we could.Also we were all getting our asses kicked” But Luffy has already tuned him out, his mind filled with the prospect of food. He jumps up to the younger Sanji “Sanji! Can you make wedding cake please please please” Sanji kicks him away but there isn’t any strength behind it. He feels like he needs a break from the craziness, and something to do with his hands if he doesn’t want to go absolutely crazy so he says sure. A cake, why not, probably not a wedding cake but sure. “Yes a wedding cake! With 6 stages and little figures at the top but the edible kind and...” Sanji kicks him again, harder this time “Not a wedding cake you fucking idiot!” He walks furiously to his kitchen, trying not to feel the weight of Zoro’s stare on his back.

He’s managed to calm himself down a little, and is burying his hands in a huge ball of dough, when he hears someone coming in. His own voice asks him if he needs any help. That’s never gonna stop being creepy. He stills says ok, because if there’s someone he trusts to not mess up in his kitchen, its himself. “So you’re not making a wedding cake uh?” Sanji feels himself blushing, and he doesn’t really understand why.  
“God! No! First of all we don’t have the right ingredients for a wedding cake and secondly I’m just… I’m just not about to make a wedding cake!”  
“Alright alright” answers his older self, a smile in his voice. He quickly gets himself busy, and they work together in harmony, flying around in the kitchen. It’s actually kind of amazing to see this other him work. There’s such ease to his movements, everything flows so well together, and Sanji stares at the other man’s hands, admiring the way they transform the ingredients. Staring at the man’s hands sadly means he catches the ring shining in the light, and he’s all disturbed again. What in the fuck. He tried to not think about it but the reality of it comes crashing down on him. Married. He’s married in the future. But not to anyone, not to a beautiful woman he can cook for every day and cover in presents, not to an enigmatic stranger he has yet to meet. He’s married to the fucking marimo. Out of all the people it could have ever been. Why him?

He realises he must have said that last sentence out loud because his own face is staring at him, a smile on his lips. Sanji looks at this older version of himself, noticing the small but present differences, the way all his baby fat disappeared, the beard that covers up his whole lower face, the shallow wrinkles on his forehead and around his mouth. The strangest thing about this older him might be the slow smile that almost never leaves his face, the way he carries himself with such ease, the fact he seems to fit perfectly in his own skin. His shoulder tense, Sanji thinks this can’t possibly be his future. He can’t imagine himself ever feeling this at ease.

“Why him?” asks the other man, his head loosely propped on his hand “That’s a loaded question. I think you’re probably not really ready for the answers. I know it took me way too long to get it. But I mean, it just seems obvious now, like there wasn’t really any other way it could go.” The younger chef looks at him with disbelief, almost anger, and his voice is strained when he says “That’s not really an answer.”

“Oh alright” says the other him, standing up straighter, burying his hands in his pocket and bringing out a cigarette he lights up with a flick of the wrist “I mean I can tell you it’s because he’s always there for us, because he can take out everything we dish out and respond in kind, because when you’ll think he’s dead you’ll find not a single thing makes sense anymore. I can tell you it’s in his determination, the look he gets when he actually thinks about something important, because yes he thinks sometimes. I can tell you its how I can rest on him and know he’ll never let me fall. I can tell you we’ve never been happier than when we’re him. I can tell you all that but come on, I know you won’t really get it. You’re not there yet, and this is all really big. Your life gets really big.” He takes a long drag of his cigarette after that, looking at his younger self with concern, wondering if he said too much, or maybe not enough.

The 19 year old Sanji, (god did he ever really look so vulnerable, so young) lets go of a breath he didn’t realise he was holding. The older man is right. He doesn’t get it, and frankly, he really doesn’t want to. He feels betrayed by this version of himself. He can’t recognise himself in this relaxed smile, and honestly he’s so jealous he might burst. He’s also deeply scared by how many things resonated with him in that disgusting lovey dovey monologue. He thinks about the trust he has in Zoro during battle, thinks about how he knows the other man would lay down his life for any of his friends, and at the same time he thinks about the rings on the older pair’s hands and the association of thoughts make a shiver run through his spine.

“So what” he says, voice unsteady, busying himself with the dough again “we just get settled with the stupidest caveman ever, and consider it the happiest day of our life? What about, what about women though? How is this how it ends, how the fuck is HE my true love, god what the fuck” A hand on his shoulder interrupts his panicked ranting.  
“This part cannot be that much of a surprise" the other man says, a curly eyebrow rising. "I remember being 19 you know. You can lie to the others and you can lie to yourself but well, I guess you can’t lie to the older version of yourself, who’s been there before. He’s hot, and it’s ok that you noticed.” He gets back to pouring chocolate on the first layer of the cake, as the younger cook is staring at him with pure horror in his eyes, a red flush spreading over his cheeks.  
“We still like women, if that’s what’s so terrifying to you. Everyone’s very hot, and I think you already realised that.”  
“Ok and this is where we’re stopping this discussion!” the younger sanji blurts out, raising his hands. This feels too much like the weirdest birds and the bees conversation and he really doesn’t need that right now.

They both silently finish the preparation before putting the cake in the oven. Sanji wipes his hands on his pants and leaves the kitchen. He figures he can leave his older self with the dishes, considering the trauma he just experienced. As he leaves, he sees the older Zoro walk away from the younger one and stepping into the kitchen. He hurries the fuck out of there when he hears giggles, definitely not needing to hear whatever the two of them are doing in there. He also tries to ignore the way older Zoro walks around shirtless, his older self’s words echoing in his head. What the fuck, no, he’s not going to start thinking about how hot zoro is or whatever. “Lying to himself” whatever the fuck. He furiously fumbles in his pockets for a smoke and lights it while looking at the sunset, trying to calm himself down.

Sanji is trying really hard to not have a sexuallity crisis right here and now, and is falling even harder at it. He takes a long drag and hopes he isn’t as red as he feels. Ok so maybe his older self is right, and he has maybe possibly sometimes noticed the swordsman’s muscles and thought to himself he didn’t look half bad. But you know, in a aesthetic way! Nothing gay about appreciating a friend’s forearms. He shakes his head, and hears Zoro coming up to him and leaning down on the side of the boat. They stare at the sun going down in the sea and don’t look at each other. Sanji is shocked the other man even went to him, but really, the swordsman isn’t the type to back down from anything, so this isn’t that much of a surprise. Still, the cook wishes he wasn’t there.

“Weird fucking day uh?” finally says the swordsman. Sanji laughs weakly at that. “Yeah” After another small silence, he asks “Did you talk to yourself too?”  
“Yeah. Weird as fuck to look at yourself in the eyes, well the eye I guess. But he’s strong at least, can’t reproach him that.”  
“Wait, you guys fought?”  
“Don’t know if we can call it a fight. He properly kicked my ass”.  
Sanji turns to actually look at the mosshead and wow yeah, he looks like shit, bumps and shallow scars all over his face and body.  
“You look like shit.”

Zoro punches him but there’s no real heat behind the attack, and Sanji doesn’t even retaliate. They keep staring at the sea in a palatable silence, when they hear their own voices from behind on the ship. They turn around to see their older selves getting out of the kitchen, holding hands. Zoro’s hair is ruffled and Sanji’s shirt is untucked and halfway unbuttoned. Sanji tries very very hard to not think about the implications of that and fails even harder. Images of intertwined bodies propped up on the table, on his kitchen counter, fill his mind, making a shiver run through his spine. He tells himself the heat he's feeling is from disgust only (that’s where they eat, for crying out loud), and he almost convinces himself of it.They go to sit on the rail of the ship, and all the way they’re laughing and smiling at each other. The younger pair is absolutely horrified. Older Zoro is bringing a hand to Older Sanji and pushes out a strand of hair out of his face, a calm smile on. It’s too much. It’s like witnessing your drunk parents flirting, only ten times worse. Younger Zoro is the one to break the awkward silence.  
“This is so fucking weird.”  
“Yeah...” answers Sanji “ but they do look happy.”

He doesn’t know why he says that, and he instantly regrets it. They look away from both each other and their older tragically happier selves. Thankfully, they don’t have long to wait long until older Sanji detaches himself from his husband and yells out that dinner is ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hope you enjoyed this mess! Come talk to me on twitter @kimodraw if you want lmao  
> Comments and kudos are incredibly appreciated, I would love to know what you thought of this :D


	2. Ain't nothing gay about two bros beating the shit out of each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Third chapter will probably come later today! As for the other ones, I have no idea but I'll try to keep this train of stupid writing going lmao. Hope you have fun reading it!

The cake is fucking delicious. Sanji is furious. The texture is perfectly creamy, the chocolate is at the exact right temperature, the meringue bits crumble under his tongue in the perfect way, making tears well up in his eyes. Luffy yells out his joy and immediately tries to gobble up the entire cake before older Sanji kicks him back down, but he isn’t the only one to appreciate the meal. Everyone passes their compliments to the two chefs, and Sanji relishes the praises of the ever so beautiful Nami and Robin, hearts in his eyes and whole body wiggling around. His older self simply smiles, bows down and send them both hand kisses through the air in thanks, which is, surprisingly smooth? Sanji doesn’t know how to feel about that, especially when he sees older Zoro put his hand on the other Sanji’s thigh and compliment the food too. The moss-head, complimenting his food? Jesus, can time really change them both so much?

The satisfied smile on his older self face at the compliment from the other man finishes to destroy Sanji’s good mood. He can’t believe he grows into someone who’s made more happy by a compliment from what should be regarded as sea life rather than praises from two of the most beautiful women ever. That’s just too fucking weird. During the meal, Robin says she has started to look into her books to search for an explanation as to how the chef and swordsman ended up in their timeline. She doesn’t have much yet but she adds that she’s hopeful she’ll find something. Her library is big after all, and there are so many strange things around, time travel can’t be that impossible to get a hold on. The older Sanji and Zoro seem relieved at that news. The older Sanji praises Robin for her intelligence, telling her he has no doubt she’ll find a solution.

Later, when the cake has been eaten (mostly by Luffy, who’s snoring on the middle of the deck, his stomach stretched out), and the dishes cleared away, Sanji goes to smoke and stare at the dark waves and the stars, huge constellations shining in the night sky now that they’re away any island. The ship is silent, everyone either getting ready for bed or taking in the calm of the night (or already asleep in post cake bliss in the case of their captain), and yet Sanji doesn’t hear the older Zoro coming up to him. Must be all this training and years of experiences, because the older man is quiet as a cat, which is fucking weird since the usual moss-head has all the subtlety of a caveman and can be heard walking around from the other side of the boat. Knowing he let himself be surprised by the swordsman immediately destroys what little calm he had managed to build up by looking at the stars, and he straightens up against the boards of the ship, his shoulders squaring up. 

“You okay, mini-cook?” asks the older man, and there’s a smile on his face, and the sentence is said in a half mocking tone, but there’s also, and this fucking terrifies Sanji, the slightest hint of worry in there? He turns to look at the green-haired man, who’s looking at him like he actually cares and god, what the fuck? Sanji immediately turns away from that familiar but too foreign, and most importantly way too open face, and answers drily: “Why do you care? And don’t fucking call me that.”

“Of course I care” older Zoro answers. And his voice is very warm, and very low, and he chuckles almost tenderly, and Sanji decides he will not think about what that voice just did to his stomach, not now, not ever. “I always cared” And what the fuck does that mean? Sanji isn’t ever going to become his future self, he decides, because he’s gonna die of heart failure before then if the moss-head keeps blurting out bullshit like that. Sanji’s head turns back violently to face the swordsman’s, a blush crawling up his cheeks. Thankfully, the man is looking into the sea, a calm smile on. 

Sanji, for the first time since the pair fell on the ship, actually takes the time to look at the older Zoro. His face is more angular, his neck thicker, his green hair longer and slightly pulled back. There's the huge scar barring his chest, of course, making Sanji shiver with the mental image of Zoro bleeding out in front of Mihawk, but there's a lot of other smaller scars all over his arms, his shoulders and hands. Some of them are almost invisible but some seem fresh, white against the tan skin of the swordsman. He also seems wiser. And sure, the bar is fucking under the sea level, what with the marimo probably having had three coherent thoughts in his entire life, at best. But still, this version of him seems more collected. Like he actually took some time to reflect, like maybe all those hours of meditation did him some good.

He's also still not wearing a shirt, and his older self words come rushing back to Sanji. Yeah, okay, he has to admit this older more mature Zoro doesn't look terrible, developed muscles gleaming under the moonlight. Fine, he even looks hot, Sanji admits to himself, mouth suddenly dry. He swallows and looks away as the older man speaks again. “He cares too, you know. I remember being 19 and sure, memories get kind of blurred with time but I remember this, I remember caring. Caring about all of you, caring about our dreams, caring about you.” 

With those last words, he raises a hand to Sanji’s face and, before the cook can register it, passes his fingers through his hair, the tips of them barely touching his neck. Sanji freezes, the cigarette in his hand falling to its doom in the dark sea. It probably lasts 3 seconds at best, this moment with calloused knuckles running through his unwashed and honestly kind of greasy hair, but it seems like an eternity to Sanji. His mind short circuits. He feels like his nerve ends are about to explode. He wants to jump off the ship. He wants to kick the swordsman into the cold water. He wants it to never end. He wants to push the older man against the rail and shove his mouth against his. Wait, what the fuck where those last ones? No, no, no, hold on, he immediately trails back, there’s a world of difference between admitting someone is hot and actually wanting to swap saliva with that someone. Especially if that someone is the marimo, even an older seemingly wiser version of said marimo. 

His eyes wide, his whole face red and his blood vessels probably about to burst, he snatches his head away from the oh too tender touch. Part of him immediately misses the contact, but that part of him is a fucking horny idiot who doesn’t know what’s good for him, so he bottles it up real deep. Older Zoro slowly drops his hand back on the rail, looking at him with concern and tenderness and urgh, he really can’t deal with this shit anymore. He doesn’t even have the energy to ask what the fuck just happened. He pushes himself up from the rail and walks to the comfort of his kitchen in a few long strides. Ah, his kitchen, temple of hygiene and calm, his kitchen...His kitchen that isn’t empty. And of course, who else but the fucking marimo to be rampaging around in his fridge, when he’s the last person he wants to see right now? Sanji doesn’t know which god he’s angered, but he thinks he needs to start giving up offerings to someone if he wants his life to get a semblance of normalcy back.

“What the fuck are you doing in my kitchen?” he asks, already fuming. The swordsman pulls his head back from the fridge, a bottle of sake in hand. 

“Alright you can have it but get the fuck out” says Sanji. Zoro passes him, their arms touching, and Sanji hates that he notices how their arms touch now, and opens up the revolving door to the kitchen...Before entering right back in, his face white as a sheet. 

“Hey, I told you to leave dipshit” starts Sanji, but Zoro only answers by weakly shaking his head. Curious as to what put the shit-swordsman in this state, Sanji pops his head out of the kitchen, and holy fuck okay he gets it. Against the rails are propped up his older self and the other Zoro, except they’re not just giggling and talking this time. It’s extremely disturbing to see his own leg between the thighs of the marimo, his own hair being pulled around, and even more disturbing to hear slight moans in his voice as the green-haired bastard bites what looks like his own neck. Sanji thinks back to the same hand in his hair and chokes on his saliva, retreating to the safe haven of his kitchen. Well relatively safe, as the marimo seems to have given up on leaving and is currently sitting on the floor, nursing his sake bottle. Well, Sanji can hardly blame him, he wouldn’t want to be out there either. He’s not spending a minute of his time with the marimo sober though, and he snatches the bottle from the other man’s hands, collapsing next to him on the ground as he takes a few big gulps. 

He gives the bottle back and puts his head on his knees, a long sigh escaping his lips. “What the fuck is wrong with them” he weakly says to the floor. The moss-head only growls in answer, and they silently pass the bottle between each other until it’s empty and Sanji feels a warm fog take over his brain. “Older you is the worst” he says as he gets up to grab another bottle, ignoring the way his knees shake at the sudden movement. Zoro chuckles. Sanji thinks of the similar chuckle he heard from the older man a few moments ago, and tries not to think too hard about it. Thankfully, thinking is a whole thing he doesn’t have too much to worry about in his tipsy state. 

“Have you seen old you, man? He’s the worst” laughs Zoro

“Yeah well he at least has the decency to wear a shirt” Zoro laughs harder at that, and Sanji would worry about the way his insides pleasantly twist and turn at the sound but he’s honestly too drunk for that. “I mean who does he think he is, walking around tits out and being all fucking tender and caring and shit?” 

“Tender?” Zoro asks, and Sanji snaps his head to look back at him. Zoro is looking at him with something he can’t even start to decipher and god, did Sanji really just think he was drunk enough for this? He’s not, he almost feels painfully sober right now. He closes his eyes and takes a few big gulps of sake, blessing alcohol for helping him deal with this shit in a very healthy way. When he opens them up again, the look is thankfully gone from Zoro’s eyes, and he grabs the bottle back from the cook’s hands. Sanji looks at the floor, remembers he technically has a question to answer, and blurts out “It’s just fucking weird”

“That i can agree with.”

“By the way, if you ever touch my hair I swear to god I’ll kick you out of the ship.”

“Touch your hair? What the fuck shitty cook, I don’t care about your dumb hair! Although it is fucking hilarious to finally see your right eye. I always thought you had a terrible deformity or something. Why the hell do you even cover it up if it looks normal?”

“It’s just a fucking hairstyle you asshole. I never pretended it was something more.” Sanji answers angrily, brushing his fingers through his hair.  
“Can i see it?”  
“What?”  
“Your eye. Can I see it if you have no good reason to hide it?”

“I… guess” Sanji hesitates, his fingers freezing between his bangs. He really doesn’t have any reason to hide his eye but this somehow feels larger than that. It feels intimate, big in ways he doesn’t know how to describe. Zoro backs off, feeling his hesitation : “You don’t have to. I don’t care about your eye anyway”  
“No no it’s fine.” Sanji cuts him off. He turns to face the swordsman and lifts his bang, revealing his right eye. He waits for some cutting jab, but Zoro just stares at him silently. Sanji feels himself blushing under the scrutiny, feels the sweat running down his back. The strange look is back in Zoro’s eyes, and Sanji doesn’t know how to interpret it, doesn’t know what to do with it, just wants it to stop. So he drops his hair back and turns away, muttering “Looked your fill yet? I told you it’s just a norma fucking eye.” 

“Yeah” answers Zoro, distant. The tension of the moment is still there, weird unsaid feelings resting between the two men. Sanji doesn’t know what to do with it, so he just drinks some more. Eventually, Zoro looks back at him and asks “You wanna fight?” 

They’ve always spared. Most of the time it starts with an insult or a angry movement, but both men can admit, if not to each other then at least to themselves, that they enjoy fighting the other, that they need it. It breaks of tension between them, it’s a great way to hone their skills, and also, they both just really like it. So sometimes, they don’t need any excuse to spar. Sometimes one of them just asks and the other aquieses. Sanji is thankful for this tonight. He already feels a tension building up in his body, feels like he needs to work out the ache in his legs until he can’t feel anything but pain and a bone crushing weariness.  
“Yeah. Not in my kitchen though.”  
“We can go up in the crow’s nest.” 

Zoro pops his head out of the kitchen and announces, relieved, that the older pair is nowhere to be seen. Sanji grabs two other bottles, planning to get properly smashed with the other man once he kicked his ass into oblivion, and they head for the mast. Once they’ve reached the top of it, Sanji puts down the bottles in a corner and Zoro grabs his swords. They stare at each other in silence, taking in the tension, the calm before the storm. This is how it should be, thinks Sanji. No tender looks, no fucking hand in his hair. Just two friends about to beat the shit out of each other. 

Then it starts, and there’s no time to think anymore. Sanji almost lets out a sigh of satisfaction as he blocks Zoro’s swords with his shin. He doesn’t know how long they fight, but he knows it does make him feel better, fills his head with nothing but the sound of blades running through the air and the sight of Zoro’s stupid angry face coming up at him. In the end, he kicks the swordsman in the stomach and sends him flying through the crow’s nest. Zoro doesn’t immediately get up and Sanji walks up to him, the satisfaction of a good fight well won running through him. A nagging voice reminds him that Zoro fought with his older self earlier, got the shit kicked out of him and probably wasn’t at his best for this fight, but whatever. 

He puts his foot on the other man’s chest, pressing sightly and keeping him pinned down, and looks down at him, grinning proudly. Zoro looks up at him, breathing deeply, his brows furrowed, his cheeks red, sweat glistening on his forehead and cheekbones. Sanji catches himself starring a bit too long, feels his own face heat up. He takes down his foot and extends a hand to the swordsman, who grabs it. But as Sanji is about to pull the other man up, Zoro pulls him down instead, laughing hard as the chef falls face first into him. Sanji pulls himself up immediately, yelling “That doesn’t count! I still won that one!” Zoro is still laughing as he drops his hold on the cook’s wrist, gets up and grabs the sake.  
“Yeah yeah shit-cook, don’t get your panties in a bunch. But I got beat up earlier so it doesn’t mean shit, just so you know.” he drops back down next to Sanji and starts drinking.

Sanji fishes in his pockets for a crumbled up smoke and lights it, breathing out a satisfied sigh.  
“Sure. Nice fight though.”  
“Yeah.”

They drink silently for a while, enjoying the company of the other, trying to see if things are back to normal. They appear to be, and Sanji feels extremely relieved at that. He’s already sick of the strangeness the older pair bring into their lives, and it’s only been a day. He says so to Zoro, who can only acquiesce.

“Older you needs to keep the fuck away from me, or I’m really going to try to slice him up.”

“The fuck did he do? And don’t, you’re definitely the one who will end up bleeding all over the boards, and you got enough sense beaten into you today that we know sense just can’t get into that thick skull of yours.”

“Shut up asshole!” Zoro punches him, but there isn’t any heat behind it. “He just...whatever. It’s just fucking weird is all.” He gets the same look as before, the one that does something to Sanji’s insides. Fuck, and here he was thinking things could go back to normal.

“Yeah it really fucking is… I can always talk to him if you want. I don’t think they realise how weird they’re acting. To them it’s normal, which, you know, is what’s so fucking weird about it.” A shiver runs through his spine as the image of the smiling couple comes back to him. Without thinking, he puts his hand on Zoro’s shoulder in what he sees as a recomforting act between two camarades, but Zoro immediately freezes under the touch. His head snaps to look at Sanji, his eyes wide with the same look Sanji doesn’t know how to decipher and that he’s seen way too much in a single day, a dark blush running on his cheek, making him look way cuter than he has any right to be. And god Sanji needs to stop noticing all the little things that make the stupid marimo attractive because this is definitely not a return to normalcy. It's a jump into a terrifying and bottomless ravin. He drops his hand, looks away.

“Sorry. Sorry didn’t mean to , uh.” He doesn’t know what he didn’t mean to do. Thankfully Zoro saves him by saying, with that same distant voice he had before “It’s fine.” They go back to their silent drinking, pretending whatever weird shit just happened wasn’t weird. At some point, Sanji gets tired of the silence and blurts out:

“You know what i hate the most about them? The fucking rings. I got so excited when i saw he had a ring on. And it’s so nice too, all plain and silver and shit. It fits him so well. I really want to wear that ring. You know I always wanted to get married? I used to daydream about it, the cake, a nice girl in a pretty dress, Zeff smiling at me and telling me how proud and happy he is...And then I find out I do get married but it’s to you? Kind of ruins the fantasy. I mean I can hardly picture you in a wedding dress.”

“I don’t even want to get married man. I don’t get how he can’t see this as a weakness, the whole…”Zoro does a vague gesture with his hand, doesn’t seem to find the rights words and gives up. Sanji stares at his hand a bit too long. “But I also can’t think of him as weak, can I? I mean, he did it! He beat Mihawk, accomplished my dream. And on the way he fucking fell for you? It’s just so…”

“Weird.” they say in unison.

Sanji drinks some more, feels his brain get all foggy with the alcohol. It’s nice, he thinks. They should do this more often.  
“Do what more often? Beat the shit out of each other?”  
Oh fuck, did he say that last part out loud? He’s been doing that too often lately. He shrugs.  
“Sure. The drinking part too. I like the drinking.” 

Zoro laughs, and Sanji lets himself enjoy the butterflies that pop up in his stomach at the sound, tells himself it’s fine, it’s the alcohol. And if it isn’t, at least the alcohol will help him forget. “Yeah, I’ve noticed. You drank almost all of my booze shit cook”  
“It’s not your booze. It’s...collective booze, belongs to the crew.”

“Sure. Let me have some anyway.” Zoro takes the bootle back and takes a long swig from it. Sanji stares at the swordsman’s throat as his Adam’s apple goes up and down. Once more, Sanji is thankful for the alcohol and how he can blame all his weird thoughts on it. Weird thoughts like the sudden instinct to reach up and touch Zoro’s clavicle. It takes up a lot of his self control to not do that stupid thing, and he doesn’t hear what Zoro asks him. He looks up at the swordsman’s face, who repeats himself:

“I got beat up by my double, but what did you guys do beside bake a cake?”  
Sanji thinks back to his conversation with his double and feels his cheeks heat up. 

“Oh man, I had the weirdest birds and the bees conversation with him. It’s like talking to your dad who has your best interest in mind but also has no fucking sense of your boundaries. “Oooh Sanji men are hot Sanji accept your bisexuality Sanji” yeah well maybe I don’t want to talk about it with you Sanji!”

He realises he just yelled out the last part and lets his head fall back down on the floor, groaning. He throws a look at Zoro, who’s looking at him like he both wants to laugh at him and give him advice or some shit and urgh, that really is too much. He definitely doesn’t need the swordsman's pity, especially on a subject like this newfound sexuality crisis, and especially if said crisis is mostly set off by his stupid face. 

“Don’t look at me like that” he says, batting at the swordsman’s face and missing it by a wide margin.  
“I’m not looking at you like anything, idiot.” They’re silent for a moment, and Sanji thinks Zoro might have fallen asleep when he hears “At least I’m safe on that front.”

Sanji cracks one eye open, a silent question thrown out between them. Zoro keeps his eyes closed when he says  
“The whole gay panic thing. Been there, done that, so I know he knows I don’t need coaching or whatever.”  
Sanji feels himself blushing, is thankful for the dark of the night enveloping them and hiding it. He can’t stop himself from asking “So you…”

“I mean I never like, denied or really questioned it. I’m gay, that’s kind of just how it is.” Sanji catches Zoro throwing quick glances at him, and realises the moss-head is actually anxious about revealing this to him. That thought does all kind of weird things to his stomach though, so he decides to ignore it when he says “Well congrats to you for figuring it out before the tender age of 19. I mean fuck, what was I doing for all of my teenage years?” Zoro chuckles, and they fall back into an agreeable sleepy silence. Sanji doesn’t remember falling asleep, but knows he does so with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hope you enjoyed this mess! Come talk to me on twitter @kimodraw if you want lmao  
> Comments and kudos are incredibly appreciated, I would love to know what you thought of this :D


	3. In which solutions are found and feelings are repressed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fellas is it gay to think your bro's silouhette under the moonlight is the most beautiful thing you've ever witnessed? It's not if you say no homo right after right? Ok just checking

Upon waking up, Sanji’s first thought is dedicated to how everything hurts. His head is throbbing, he feels like he’s going to puke, and his back is screaming at him. This might be because he spent the night on hard wood instead of his reliable hammock after fighting an idiot and getting absolutely smashed with said idiot. His second thought, a slightly more panicked one, is for the weight resting on his chest. He cracks one eye open, winces at the sun blinding him, and understands said weight to be an arm thrown over his chest. A tanned, really muscular arm. Sanji groans, the events of last night coming back to him in flashes. Oh to be unconscious again and away from this terrible reality where his future double is married to the marimo, said marimo’s is currently snoring right next to him, and he’s in the middle of a sexuality crisis set of by the same marimo. 

Suddenly worried about their close quarters, Sanji tries to take in their position without waking up the swordsman. Their legs are intertwined at the knee, and Zoro’s arm is on his chest, his snoring face pretty close to his own. They must have gotten closer during the cold night. Still, it could be so much worse, and Sanji lets out a relieved sigh as the image of the moss-head spooning him enters his mind. Upon realising the thought doesn’t exactly inspire terror in him, he groans again. It’s too early for this shit. Thankfully he doesn’t have much time to process those terrible awful no good thoughts, as the voice of his captain rings through the ship, piercing his earlobes. He’d say he’ll be deaf by thirty living with these people but he has living proof that that’s not the case. He should ask his older self if he uses ear plugs.

“Awesome! Sanji and Zoro are fighting! So cool!! Everyone come quick!!” is what Luffy is yelling. Well he isn’t exactly fighting the moss-head right now, so Luffy must be talking about their older selves. Why would they fight though, wonders Sanji. Aren’t they disgustingly in love with each other? Images of the couple being disgustingly in love with each other pop back into his mind and he decides he has had enough of the marimo on top of him, and he pushes him off, sitting up and rubbing his tense neck. Zoro rolls off him with a thud and wakes up grumbling and rubbing at his eyes. 

Sanji decides it’s too early and that he’s too sober to stare at the bastard’s handsome face, so he gets up and looks down from the crow’s nest. It does look like their older selves are getting ready to fight. They’re smirking at each other. His older self took off his tie and rolled back his sleeves (fuck he actually gets arms this toned in 10 years? Nice.) and older Zoro still isn’t wearing a shirt, the absolute madman, his swords in hands (and mouth). Luffy is bouncing around excitedly and yeah, Sanji can’t really blame him actually. He really wants to see how this will go down, wants to see how strong this version of him is. He hears Zoro get up too and he starts to get down the mast. By the time he’s on the deck, the rest of the crew is surrounding their older selves and Luffy is finishing up a countdown   
“...2…1...GO!”

The two men launch at each other, and Sanji’s jaw drops. This is the coolest shit he’s ever seen. His double’s legs are literally burning as he jumps and kicks the swordsman. They’re both moving incredibly fast, and he can’t even see the blades movements, only hear their swooshing. It’s like watching a choreographed dance, seeing those two circle each other, nearly avoiding deadly attacks over and over again. Older Sanji jumps up so high the crew can barely see him and comes down on Zoro’s raised swords, his burning heel almost cutting through them. The green haired man grins up at him, and Sanji realises this is a game to them, a way to hone their skills and stay sharp, in the same way he and Zoro fight, and not the deadly battle it looks like from the outside. He exhales a sharp breath he didn’t realise he was holding, and stares even more intensely at the couple. He’s amazed at the way his older self moves, the amount of strength in the moves he pulls off without breaking a sweat. 

Deeply absorbed in the fight, Sanji has no idea how long it lasts but at some point, his older self ends up on the ground, a sword tilting up his chin. He’s heavily breathing, his cheeks are red and his thigh is bleeding from a shallow cut inflicted during the fight. The older Zoro is also breathing heavily, burns still smoldering on his chest and arms. He’s grinning down at the man at his feet, tenderness and love pouring out of him even though he just furiously tried to stab him a bunch of times. Their position suddenly reminds Sanji of his fight with Zoro the previous night and fuck, it just looks way too similar to how he was pinning Zoro down with his foot. The older swordsman even holds out his hand to Sanji to get him up, and even though the chef actually takes the offer and doesn’t drag the other man down, Sanji is reminded of the other fight, and his stomach is turning. He’s suddenly way too aware of his sweaty palms and of the piercing look of Zoro on his back. 

He’s thankfully distracted by their tiny doctor running up to the two men, in tears :

“Sanji! Zoro! Are you ok?! What is wrong with you! I thought you were going to die at least 30 different times, how could you be so foolish!” 

Older Zoro smiles down at him : “Don’t worry Chopper, we know we can always rely on the best doctor there is.”

Chopper cries harder at that, hearts rising up from his fur “Argh, shut up! I’m definitely not happy you said that, you bastard!!” The couple let themselves be taken to the infirmary by the panicked reindeer.

Sanji realises he really shouldn’t let his crew wait any longer, puts his hangover induced headache and other unsavory thoughts in the back of his head, and heads into the kitchen to prep breakfast. It’s already pretty late, and he knows as soon as Luffy stops drooling over how cool their future selves are, he’s gonna start drooling over the thought of food, so he decides to cook up some quick omelettes.

When everyone is reunited at the table and wolfing down on the eggs, he realises the older pair are missing, and asks Chopper how they’re doing. The reindeer assures him they’re fine, their constitutions are really impressive, and they just need to rest for the afternoon. Sanji decides he’ll bring them their food before their idiot leader eats all of it. He walks down to the infirmary and decides to actually knock on the door before entering. He’s seen enough traumatic images to last him a lifetime, he thinks. Both men are thankfully in their own beds when he walks in though, and he hands them their plates. Zoro still isn’t wearing a shirt but whatever, he guesses he can give up on that one. 

When he walks back to the kitchen table, perfect beautiful Robin is talking, a huge book propped up on her knees. “Ah, Sanji” she says when she sees him “I was just saying I think I might have found a way to bring our friends back into their right timeline.”

“Oh Robin you’re so smart, I knew you’d find something!” She lets him praise her for a moment, hearts rising up in the air, before continuing:

“There’s something in this book about some kind of deity, with the power to move people and objects through time. Not many people have been able to document this power, because that power only appears to the people of a small secluded island. It says the power possesses one of the inhabitants when they’re a teen and lives through them until their death. Apparently, the people of this island are very wary of strangers, and it’s a huge cultural taboo to leave when you were born there, so those strange powers never really left the island, ence why not that many people heard of it.”

“Could it be a devil fruit?” asks Zoro.

“Maybe.” answers Robin “I really can’t say from this little information. But I do know where the island is.” She points to a tiny dot on a map. Nami bends over to look at it, pulling the log pose out of her skirt pocket. 

“How long would it take us to reach it?” asks Sanji, trying to keep his voice even.

“Well…” Nami begins, studying the map and the log pose a bit more “About 10 to 13 days I think? With good weather, which we should have.” 

Sanji lets out a sigh. Alright, that’s not that long until things go back to normal. Which is definitely what he wants, things going back to normal.

“Good news is that it doesn’t actually deviates us from our original route too much! Of course we would have done whatever it took to help our senior residents over there, but it’s nice to know we won’t lose that much time doing so. That is, if things go smoothly on the island.” With those last words, Nami throws a deadly look to their oblivious captain. Her thoughts are clear: Luffy could you please manage to control yourself and not get in a fight with every local of this island for five seconds?.

Luffy ignores her though, instead desperately trying to steal Robin’s omelette, who’s raising a barrage of hands against him. Nami sighs, and Sanji kicks Luffy on the head : “Oi idiot! Stop trying to eat Robin’s food!” A short lived scuffle follows. When Luffy gets tired of getting kicked repeatedly in the head, Sanji leaves him to go tell the good news to their older selves, and to get his plates back.

He’s relieved to find only his older self in the room, reading a book. The moss-head must have already gotten stir-crazy and left to go lift 3 tonnes weights with one pinky or whatever it is he does. He tells the older man about Robin’s discovery, and older Sanji seems relieved at the thought of being able to come back to his own timeline soon. Sanji doesn’t blame him. Sure, seeing the older pair walking around is a fucking nightmare for him, but the older man can’t possibly be having a field day with it either. The sooner everything goes back to normal, the better, he think. The older Sanji hands him the plates while getting up.

“Need help with the dishes?”

“Uh, sure. But don’t you need to rest? Chopper said…”

The older Sanji laughs at that, a loud and honest laugh, his whole head reeling back. “

“Ah! As if that dumbass could actually hurt me. No, Chopper is an angel but he doesn’t need to mother me like that. I’m not going to be kept down long by his idiotic swords.”

Sanji smiles. It’s nice to see that through this cloud of horrifying love, his older self still knows that he could beat the shit of the swordsman, and still insults him. It makes their whole relationship seem less alien, less strange, more approachable. He stops dead in his tracks. What the fuck, no. He doesn’t want their relationship to feel relatable. This is only one possible future, and he doesn’t want it to be his. He walks back to the kitchen, plates balancing on his arm, feeling the look of his older self on his back as he repeats to himself that no, he definitely doesn’t want whatever puts a soft smile on his double’s face. Not if it comes from the moss-head. He shakes his head as he enters the kitchen and pulls out a cigarette. As he lights it, his older self asks :

“Oh hey could I bother you for a smoke too? I finished my pack.”

“So we don’t cut the addiction uh.” Sanji answers drily, handing him his whole pack.

“Oh no we don’t” he says, chuckling. He lights the cigarette and stares into the void for a moment, lost in thought. Younger Sanji is about to say something to cut through the awkward silence, but the older man takes a long drag, and exhales in a satisfied way:

“Oof, they don’t make them like they use to. Enjoy these smokes Sanji. At some point they change the composants and they start tasting like shit.”

Sanji laughs, and he starts to wash the dishes, his older self grabbing a rag to dry them. They work in silence for a while, but eventually Sanji works up the courage to ask something that’s been running around in his skull since last night.

“So hurm” he starts, cursing himself for stumbling over his words already “How did you two get together anyway?” He purposely doesn’t look at the other man, staring at the soapy water running through his fingers instead. 

His older self laughs a little, and takes a while to answer:  
“Well, first of all it took me way too long to get it. But then, he almost died in front of me.” Sanji looks back at him at that, bloody images flashing in front of his eyes. 

“And that’s when I got it. In here” he points to his forehead “And in here” he finishes, pointing at his heart. Sanji almost rolls his eyes at the cheesy gesture, but his older self isn’t done:

“In the same moment I understood he’d die for me, I realised I’d die for him too. And that was terrifying. I was fucking pissed honestly. I stayed pissed for a while. And we fought more than usually. There was this tension between us, and neither of us wanted to address it, so it kept building up. Then one night he came into the kitchen and it just kind of, blew up. I started yelling, he yelled back. Then I screamed that I loved him, and kissed him.”

Sanji blushes as he dries his hands. He’s finished with the dishes but he leans against the wall to listen as the older man goes on:

“Then he kissed me back and pushed me into the wall. This wall actually” he says, pointing to where Sanji is leaning. Eyes wides and cheeks red, Sanji jumps forward and away from the wall as his older self laughs.

“Alright alright I think I heard enough!” he blurts out, hands on his ears to protect himself from the terrible, awful no good words and the images they create in his brain. 

Crossing his arms, he suddenly remembers his conversation from last night with the moss-head, and turns back to his older self, who dragged out another cigarette and is lighting it. God, he’s gonna bleed him dry from all his smokes at this rate.

“By the way, I don’t know what it is you did to Zoro but you’ve got to stop it. And same with old moss-head. You guys can do whatever you want, I don’t care, but I don’t want any part in it, alright. It’s weird to be involved.”

The older man looks at him quizzically, his head tilted to one side. Then he seems to get it:

“Oh, is this because I rubbed his back? Yeah he did seem pretty freaked out. Sorry about that, didn’t mean to make things weird between you.”

Things are already weird between us, thinks Sanji. He suddenly remembers putting his hand on Zoro’s shoulder and feeling the swordsman freeze up under the contact. Makes sense if older Sanji was being all weird and tender like older Zoro was with him. He sighs and and pinches the top of his nose, feeling an headache coming up. Why are things getting so complicated?

“What did Zoro do?” asks his older self, concern in his voice. And alright, Sanji can accept worry from himself more than from the moss-head, but it’s still weird to be cared for like that. Then he processes the question, thinks back to the older man’s hand in his hair, and realises he really doesn’t want to answer said question.

“Nothing. It’s fine. Whatever” he blurts out, already blushing. And when did he even start blushing so much? “Just, keep it to yourselves okay?” he finishes, looking at the floor like it’s the most fascinating thing he’s seen in days. 

Older Sanji chuckles and assures him that sure, they’ll chill out. “It’s just strange, to look at him, to look at the both of you, and see versions of us I haven’t seen or thought about in years. It’s like looking in a funhouse mirror. Also, you two are adorable.”

Sanji chokes on his saliva. Adorable? What the fuck. He doesn’t have time to process those awful words that the older man already has his hand in his hair - they really all need to leave his hair alone goddamnit - and ruffles it up, saying   
“Ah, to be young again.” before leaving the kitchen, a smile around his cigarette.

Sanji is left to look at the floor again, a terrible blush spreading on his face. He’s getting really tired of this whole arrangement, to be honest. He sighs and rubs a hand through his hair. So, 10 to 13 days? That’s fine, he can handle that. 

Turns out he can’t handle that. It’s only been 2 hours since he cleaned the dishes and he already wants to tear out all of his hair and throw himself into the sea. Sure, older Zoro hasn’t come back to look at him with tenderness and hope or whatever the fuck and run his hand through his hair or do anything else disgusting like that, but Sanji is still on edge. Hell, even regular Zoro hasn’t come up to him. Actually, absolutely nothing strange has happened, but Sanji cannot stop his mind from racing around. He thinks about calloused fingers against his neck and tries to resist the urge to run up to the prow of the Sunny and jump into the icy waves. He stares at the swordsman training, and notices the way his muscles move under the skin, thinks about the man’s strength, remembers his flushed face looking up at him, and his foot pinning him down. He thinks about the older Zoro biting at his older self’s neck. 

What the fuck, 10 to 13 days. How the hell did he think he was going to make it? No, he thinks, he’s going to die right now. Is it really that important to find all blue? Can’t he just end it all right now? Surely his dreams aren’t worth the torment his soul and body are being put through right now. Luffy would find another chef, it’s fine. And if he jumps off the ship right now, he doesn’t have to stop himself from looking at Zoro’s hands for the fifth time in an hour, goddamnit.

He decides to occupy himself with prepping a huge meal because, you know, that’s his job. And to his credit, it does work. He barely thinks about his stupid shitty feelings until it’s time to call everyone around to eat. While eating, he deliberately tries to look everywhere but at either of the swordsmen, listening to an incredibly stupid lie told with way too much confidence by Usopp.

He’s an idiot though, and still throws a couple of looks at the moss-head. Every time, Zoro is looking at his plate, brows furrowed. Sanji suddenly wonders if maybe the swordsman has been as fucked over by those events as he is, and feels a pang of sympathy rise up in his chest. And what the fuck is this new bullshit? Attraction he can accept. It sucks and it’s terrible and it’s incredibly distracting but he can take it. But feeling what, compassion, caring for the algae idiot? No, no, no, that’s just getting ridiculous now. He’s not doing that, he thinks, shaking his head.

Later in the day, as Sanji finishes up cleaning the kitchen, Zoro walks in the kitchen. Sanji waits for him to furrage around the cabinets or to ask for some booze, but the swordsman just leans against the wall and crosses his arms. Sanji buries the thought of what happened in a different timeline against said wall in the back of his head and turns to the marimo, drying up his hands on a rag :

“What do you want, shitface?” Yes, he thinks, insults are a nice, safe territory. 

“Shut up, asshole.” the marimo answers. He looks away for a moment, and Sanji feels like they’re at the edge of a deep and terrifying precipice. Thing is, he’s not sure it would be that bad to fall in. “Wanna fight?” Zoro asks.

“Oh hell yes”, thinks Sanji. He tries not to think about how happy he is at the prospect of kicking the shit out of Zoro again, about how they usually don’t fight that often, about how maybe he just wants to touch the other man. No, he definitely doesn’t think about all of that, doesn’t hear “And we fought more than usually” said in his own voice as he nods, a grin spreading on his face, and follows Zoro to the crow’s nest. 

When they’re up there, he can barely contain his pent up energy, shivers running up and down his legs and, okay, maybe that’s sort of weird but whatever. If it works and he can stop feeling so strange and guilty for a moment, he’ll take it. He barely has the time to take off his tie before the swordsman runs up at him, swords unleashed. He almost doesn’t block the attack, feels the impact in his whole body, and can’t repress the wild grin that stretches his cheeks as he jumps on his hands and kicks the man in his chin. Fuck, he needed that, he thinks as they clash repeatedly against the other, a dull pain starting to spread through his legs. He ends up on the floor, and getting up would be pushing himself too far, so he just stays there, eyes closed, trying to even his breathing.

Then he feels a cold metallic edge on his throat, and his eyes open wide. Zoro is standing over him, face flushed, the tip of his sword tilting up his chin. Sanji’s breath gets caught up in his throat. Moonlight bounces off Zoro’s silhouette, highlighting his cheekbones, the sweat on his brow, his trembling muscles, and fuck, Sanji thinks this might be the most beautiful sight he’s come across. He swallows drily against the sword, and feels it pierce his skin, just a bit, just enough to let a drop of blood run down his throat. 

Zoro’s eyes are wide, staring, Sanji realises, at his neck, then moving up to his mouth. Instinctively, Sanji licks his lips. He feels the sword cut him a little deeper as Zoro’s arm clenches. They’re standing exactly like their older selves this morning, Sanji realises. Except they’re under the protection of the night, except they’re aren’t smiling at each other. Sanji also realises that Zoro could easily kill him right now, and a chill runs through his spine at the thought, because he knows the other man wouldn’t, knows he’d die for anyone on this crew. Not breaking eye contact with the swordsman, he raises a hand, and lets himself be lifted up by the green-haired man.

But as soon as he’s upright, a bone crushing fatigue crashes on him, and he sits right back down, wiping away the blood on his neck. He feels Zoro’s stare on him, and fails at repressing a flush. The swordsman sits next to him, and he’s once again thankful for the cover of the night, because his blushing increases at the sudden heat of the body next to him. They don’t have booze this time, he thinks bitterly, and pulls out a cigarette because he needs something to busy himself with or he might just do something incredibly stupid like follow his instincts and push the swordsman down on the hardwood floor.

The smoke calms him down a little, and when he crushes its stub on the wooden boards, he feels a little more like himself and closes his eyes, letting sweet sleep claim him. Before falling unconscious, he tells himself this is the second night in a row he’s sleeping on hardwood next to the marimo, and that that can’t be good for his back. His last thought is dedicated to the brush of Zoro’s arm on his as the other man shifts in his sleep, and he finds himself more wanting then panicked, which would probably terrify him if he wasn’t so tired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments incredibly appreciated!! Hoped you liked this chapter, the 4th one will probably take a little more time to arrive.


	4. Sorry about the blood in your mouth, I wish it was mine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Dear So-and-So, I’m sorry I couldn’t come to your party.  
> Dear So-and-So, I’m sorry I came to your party  
> and seduced you  
> and left you bruised and ruined, you poor sad thing.  
> []  
> Sure,  
> I sink the boat of love, but that comes later. And yes, I swallow  
> glass, but that comes later.  
> And the part where I push you  
> flush against the wall and every part of your body rubs against the bricks,  
> shut up  
> I’m getting to it."  
> \- Litany in which certain things are crossed out - Richard Siken
> 
> This one gets kinda dark! It's nothing too graphic but there is a description of an anxiety attack and Sanji gets pretty emotionnaly fucked up, so if you get triggered by this kind of stuff or already in a bad emotionnal state, id recommand maybe not reading it.
> 
> Title is from Richard Siken's "Little beast" poem because I'm. Gay and only know one poet. 
> 
> Btw I'm really thrilled with the response to this fic! I was writting it for myself and didnt even think of posting it at the beginning, so its really lovely to see people leaving kudos and comments aha ^^

Sanji wakes up surrounded by warmth, and remains incredibly relaxed for quite a long time before a train of anxiety violently crashes into his brain. Right, right, everything is terrible, a future exists in which he’s married to the marimo, and he might have realised he wouldn’t mind having said marimo shoving him against a wall. RIght. And why does he feel so warm, is he guesses the next question he should address. He slowly opens his eyes, wincing at the light from the morning sun, and acknowledges in horror the muscled arm curled around his middle, hand resting on his side. Right, great. It appears they’ve shifted enough in their sleep that the swordsman is actually spooning him. 

Sanji forces his eyes shut again. This is a nightmare, it has to be. A very realistic nightmare, from which he’s about to wake up in his hammock. After a few seconds of furiously trying to will himself awake, Sanji is forced to look reality in the face. It’s algae shaped face. Zoro groans behind him, shifting around and actually grasping at the front of his shirt, which does something to Sanji’s insides, and he’s really not a fan of this entire situation. A travesty, is what this is! A cosmic prank the universe is playing on him! He can feel Zoro’s breath on the back of his neck, giving him goosebumps. The moss-head really took his fucking ease, with his whole chest against the chef’s back, and a leg sprawled out between his own.

Sanji is going to die right this instant, he decides. It’s his only option. If he dies right now, he won’t have to deal with the consequences of whatever this hellish situation is, and maybe he’ll reincarnate into something nice and simple, like a rock. Oh, what he’d give to be a rock right now! “A moss covered rock, right?” a traitorous voice whispers to him. After a while, he has to admit that willing himself to die works about as well as trying to wake up did, and he sighs.

Right, so he basically has two options in front of him. Either push the swordsman off and look everywhere but at him while getting ready to head back to the safety of his kitchen, or close his eyes again and let the other part of this whole cuddle equation figure it out. Now Sanji is far from being a coward. In fact, he prides himself on facing most of his fears head on. But just this once, he thinks he’ll take the easier path. He lets himself relax in the other man’s arms and closes his eyes again. And really, if he’s being fully truthful with himself, this isn’t all that bad of a feeling.

He must have succeeded in falling asleep, because when he opens his eyes again, he’s alone in the crows nest. Great, he thinks, rubbing his aching neck and getting up, problem solved! He most certainly does not miss the contact, he mentally affirms, as he climbs down the mast and heads for the bathroom. He desperately needs a cold shower, and also maybe a new brain that isn't all fucked up, horny and emotional all the time.

The next few days are awful. It doesn't get better, this constant ache in his belly, this pull towards the swordsman, this persistent need he keeps having to repress to just, reach out and… and what exactly? To just touch the other man, and to be touched, to comfort and be comforted. Absolutely disgusting. 

Zoro takes up most of his waking thoughts, and he hates it so fucking much. Zoro's hands around his katana, Zoro's straining muscles as he lifts ridiculously heavy weights, older Zoro's laugh at a joke his older self made, Zoro's stupid green hair and how soft it look, Zoro's earrings catching the light and shining under the sun, Zoto's lips around a bottle’s neck, Zoro Zoro Zoro.

Sanji feels like a schoolgirl with a crush and urgh, do other people actually live like this? Walking around with a bunch of feelings in their chest and managing to not just dissolve into piles of goo? How do they do it? 

The only thing that distracts him is cooking, and he buries himself in his craft, rarely leaving the kitchen during the day. The older pair have made themselves scarce, and he rarely sees either of them, apart from meals and the occasional walk on the deck. He knows it's basically what he asked of his older self, but for some reason he can't quite place, their absence still pisses him off.

During the day, he avoids the swordsman, barely looking at him and only talking to him when absolutely necessary. But at night, they've developed a sort of routine. Every evening, once the dishes are sorted and the kitchen is clean, Zoro will walk into the kitchen, eyes dark and expression closed. Sanji will nod and follow him to the crow’s nest, where they'll fight until exhaustion makes them pass out. 

Unlike that first night, they don’t talk much. Talking would be too dangerous, Sanji thinks. If they talk, they could start wondering out loud what this monstrous thing between them has become. If they talk, things might slip out. If they talk, he could fall into this pit at the edge of his heart he’s been desperately trying to ignore. Of course, it’s not very smart to walk at the edge of a cliff with your eyes closed, but he doesn’t know how to handle this in any other way.

So they fight, and Sanji loves it. Loves the adrenaline, loves the way it shuts his mind off and leaves him with only his instincts. He loves hearing Zoro’s groans of pain, loves the burning looks the swordsman’s throws at him over his blade, loves that he’s the center of his attention. He kicks until he can’t feel his legs, until Zoro is left in the same state as him, tired and undone and raw. 

Sometimes he ends up on the ground, looking up at the swordsman’s triumphing figure. Sometimes he’s the one pinning him down. He doesn’t know which nights are his favorites, thinks maybe he doesn’t care. And then, every night, they collapse together. His back and articulations ache from the less than ideal sleeping conditions but it’s the last of his concerns. Every morning, they wake up entangled. They don’t talk about this either, don’t talk about the mess of knots their bodies form, don’t talk about the hands caught in shirts, or the breath on collarbones, or the pressing heat Sanji misses all day.

During the day, Sanji catches looks the swordsman throws at him, dark looks in hooded eyes he still doesn’t know how to decipher. Except he could understand them, he thinks, if he just let himself, if he maybe took a leap of faith. As soon as Sanji notices them, Zoro turns away, and Sanji thinks maybe the other man is standing with him over this pit, throwing scared looks towards it, that maybe they’re feeling the same thing. But all of these thoughts are too huge, too terrifying, so he smokes cigarette after cigarette and busies himself with meal preparation and fights the swordsman until he can’t feel a thing but a dull pain all over his body.

On the fifth day, as he’s taking yet another smoke break and trying to not look at the pit, he passes next to Usopp and Franky hammering away at the prow of the ship (he thinks they’re trying to give laser eyes to the Sunny’s figurehead), and catches their conversation.

“How long do you think it’s been going on anyway?” asks Usopp

Curious, Sanji leans against the rail of the ship and looks into the sea, discreetly listening in.

“I really can’t tell bro! I feel like since before I joined the crew?”

“What? No way, it has to be more recent than that”

“But they’ve always been...you know” Franky does a vague hand gesture.

“Yeah no sure, they’ve always been weird and scary as fuck but they didn’t use to fight literally every night.”

Sanji freezes. Oh no.

“And you’ve noticed how they just stopped talking to each other? And there hasn’t been a single day fight but I’m telling you, I can hear them going at it every. Single. Night.”

Oh no oh no.

“Uh. Well, hope they figure it out soon. I mean, it has been putting a bit of a strain on everyone’s relationships. Except for Luffy, because he’s an oblivious idiot.”

“Yeah, I just really want them to chill you know? Before they beat the shit out of me because I looked at them wrong or something. As long as they don’t fuck on the dinner table or something.”

Sanji chokes on his cigarette. What the fuck? Franky and Usopp turn at the sound, finally noticing him. They at least have the decency to look guilty. Usopp looks white as a sheet. He’s about to say something but Sanji raises his hands and stares at him with wide furious eyes. He throws his cigarette overboard and walks back to the kitchen in a few wide angry strides, feeling his comrades anxious looks on him.

What the fuck? Does everyone know? Has everyone suddenly gotten a degree in psychology and think they can just go around analysing his every mood shift? How long have been talking about this? “Since before I joined the crew”. What the fuck does that even mean? He’s only been feeling...whatever he’s feeling, for a few days. Where does Franky thinks he gets off, assuming things? Oh my god, he wants to die. He might just do it right now, curl up and die from the shame. 

If he wasn’t so dedicated to his craft, he’d spit in Usopp and Franky’s food or something. But as the mere thought of messing with someone’s food revolts him, he settles for angrily slapping their plates in front of them and ignoring them for the meal. Later that night, he’s angrier than usual, more on edge. This seems to surprise Zoro, and he overpowers the swordsman quickly. But as he’s standing over him, he finds his pent up energy isn’t gone yet. 

He looks down at Zoro’s wide eyes, and suddenly feels absolutely terrified of what he could do. Realises he’s so, so close to just letting himself fall down on his knees and push into the swordsman until neither of them can think anymore. A wave of shame washes over him. He feels like a fucking monster, with this deep untamable want and need rushing around inside of him, trying to get out of his skin and do unthinkable things. Zoro is still looking up at him, a wordless question in his eyes, his chest rising and his cheeks burning.

So Sanji fucking runs. He’s always been good at that. He turns away from the body on the ground like it’s a corpse and he’s the one with blood on his hands, and climbs down the mast faster than ever before. He ends up in his kitchen, burying his hands in his pocket in the search for a smoke. He doesn’t find one, realises he’s finished all of his packs because he’s been chain smoking since future them have appeared. He bites down on his bottom lip, hard, lets blood drip down his chin. He buries his hands in his hair and tries to calm himself, but his breathing comes out irregular and heavy. 

He can hear sobs, realises with disgust they’re coming from him, his chest rising erratically. Shame, guilt and self hate threaten to swallow him entirely. He feels so fucking weak. He’s a child again, crying in a prison cell with an iron helmet crushing his head. He’s laying on burning sand, thinking of nothing but hunger, his stomach turning over itself. Weak, weak, weak, an angry voice yells at him.

He doesn’t know how long he stays like this, curled upon himself, nails digging in his skull, heart heavy with feelings he doesn’t want, but at some point it stops. His breathing evens out, his body relaxes somehow, and he rubs his palms on his cheeks, drying his tears. He feels empty. He realises he wants to curl up next to the swordsman, and doesn’t have it in him to chastise himself for the thought or to try to keep the need at bay, so he gets up and heads for the crow’s nest.

Zoro is lying on the ground, silhouette all black against the dark boards. Images of the same body bleeding out flash in front of Sanji’s eyes. He stops, looks at the man on the ground, who he knows is alive, who he knows doesn’t hate him, not really. Every part of his body aches. He’s so tired, he thinks, has never been this tired, not even as a starving terrified kid. He sighs and runs a hand through strands of his hair, letting the exhaustion wash over him. He curls up against the swordsman. 

He doesn’t know if Zoro is asleep, hopes he is, is too tired to really care. He puts his arm around the other man’s chest, and rests his head against the crook of his neck. He whispers “sorry” against Zoro’s neck before he can stop himself. He doesn’t know what exactly he’s sorry for. Sorry for running away, sorry for coming back, sorry for the starving monster in his chest, who only wants to take and take until it’s seated. Zoro’s breathing is calm, and he doesn’t react to the whispered confession. Sanji makes his hand into a fist, grabbing at the swordsman’s shirt, and hopes the other man really is sleeping. He doesn’t see the light reflecting in Zoro’s irises, doesn’t see the teeth biting down on chapped lips.

By the seventh day, Sanji is burning away, his thoughts consumed by want. He’s going to die before they reach the island, he thinks, he’s just going to randomly combust on the deck of the Sunny, and they can gather his ashes and spread them over the sea. He’s bouncing the fish Luffy and Usopp caught yesterday in a large pan along with some diced up vegetables, a bunch of spices and some oil, trying to focus on the aroma of the dish and not on whatever its stupid body thinks it wants, when someone enters the kitchen. 

It’s his lovely navigator, and he immediately runs to the fridge, asking if she’d per chance like a cocktail. She doesn’t need to get up, he could have brought it to her on the deck. 

“No thank you Sanji, I’m alright.”

“You’re sure? I can make you something without alcohol if you want instead, or maybe some snacks for you and Robin?”

“No really, I’m fine. Say Sanji, are you okay?”

He freezes in his track. Not sweet dear Nami too, for fuck sake. He feels his expression drop at the same time as his heart, and forces a smile back on.

“Of course Nami dear! How could I be anything but exthasic when you’re around me?”

She looks at him unimpressed, a piercing look metaphorically stabbing his brain and God, has he really been wearing his disgusting gooey heart on his sleeve so often that everyone caught on his ugly unwanted feelings? Will every member of this stupid crew come up to him to prey and gawk at his gross little soul? He feels like a beast in a cage, being stared at by zoo-goers. He’d never think anything bad regarding Nami but right this moment he’d really like it if she could stop looking at him like he’s a beat up puppy someone dropped at her feet.

“Right” She says “Uh...I think your fish might be burning a little”

He turns back to his cooking station and holy shit she’s right. He hasn’t let anything stick to a pan since he was 10, what the fuck. The moss-head really fucked him over if he can get so distracted he forgets about his cooking. 

“Anyway” says Nami, leaning next to him on the counter “I really think you should talk to him.”

Oh, nevermind, he’s not going to die before they reach the island, since this is so obviously hell! He’s dead already, might have died of an heart attack when the older Zoro ran his hand through his hair, and now he’s going through the motions in his own personal hell, a demon laughing at him just out of sight. He considers playing dumb for a moment, knows that it wouldn’t go well with the redhead, and sighs loudly instead, staring at the sizzling fish. 

“And to tell him what exactly?”

“I don’t know Sanji. I’m not in your head. I just think he might have things to say back, and that this stalemate between you is weird and awkward, and that it can’t last forever.”

He doesn’t know what to say to that, doesn’t want to admit she’s right.

“I mean, he’s right there, isn’t he?” She twists her hands together and his heart drops in his chest. “Not everyone has that chance” she continues, staring at the wall. “You know, I haven’t seen her in months, and I still wake up thinking of her face every day.” 

Sanji knows about Vivi, of course, knows about Nami’s feelings for her. They don’t talk about it, not really, but it’s obvious, in the yearning looks Nami throws into the sea, like a thousand messages in bottles. She talked to him about it once, right after they left Alabasta, pouring her heart out in front of him at the kitchen table in the dead of the night. He held her tightly in his arms that night, holding her together until she was whole again, until she felt strong enough to cover up the gaping hole in her chest. 

He supposes he had it coming then, this baring of his own heart, the navigator arm reaching in his ribcage and stroking his wounded soul like it’s some kind of scared bird. 

“Nami I…” he starts, but she shakes her head.

“No it’s fine. Really” She turns to face him, a sad but honest smile on “I know I’ll see her again, no matter how long it take.” She looks so pretty in this moment, Sanji thinks, and he wants to reach out and hug her, tell her it’ll be alright, but he knows this isn’t how it works, their friendship, so he smiles back at her, tries to silently communicate all of his love to her.

“Anyway.” she says, getting up from the counter, face neutral again “Talk to him, idiot” On these words, she leaves him to ponder over her advice and almost burn the fish again.

Later that night, Nami’s words echo around in his head as he follows Zoro up to the crowd’s nest, and he’s distracted enough he reacts too late to Zoro’s attack, feels a blade cut up his cheek. The wound is shallow, but he feels blood dripping down his face. All thoughts of talking about his feelings suddenly forgotten, he lets adrenaline take over and runs up to the swordsman. He wins that night, and Zoro’s looking at him with what he thinks is concern when he pulls him up.

When they’re sitting side by side against the railing of the crow’s nest, Sanji feels Zoro’s heavy stare on him, and turns to face him, his heart beating so loud against his ribs he’s certain the other man can hear it, or maybe it’ll break his bones trying to escape before then. Maybe he’ll puke out his own heart onto Zoro’s knees right here and now. Zoro’s looking at his cheek and, before Sanji can register it, has his hand raised up to touch him. He wipes at the blood and cups Sanji’s jaw, heat radiating from his finger. Sanji’s eyes widen at the touch, his brain short-circuiting at the tenderness of the moment. He thinks the swordsman might say something then, or might try to kiss him. He leans into the man’s palm, wants to lean in into his space, closes his eyes.

Then Zoro looks away, and the moment is over. He takes his hands back, retreats into his own space, face flushed. Sanji wants to say something, doesn’t know what but still feels like words need to fill up whatever void now lays between them. He opens his mouth, then shuts it. He’s a coward, he thinks as he lays down next to Zoro, and Nami’s advices have fallen into deaf ears.

On the tenth day, Sanji sees his older self hold old Zoro’s hand on the ship, feels like his whole body is burning, and decides he’s done with this bullshit. He finishes his cake, angrily shoves it in the oven, wipes his hands on his apron before hanging it up and goes out on the deck to look for the idiot moss-head. His teeth worry at his bottom lip, opening his slit back up. He wipes a drop of blood on the back of his hand, desperately wishing for a cigarette to appear out of thin air. 

He finds the swordsman leaning over the side of the ship, looking into the sea, an enigmatic look on his face. Sanji stops behind him, taking the time to actually look at Zoro in the daylight. He’s been throwing a lot of guilty glances, but it’s been a while since he actually looked at him without the cover of the night. His golden earrings tinkle quietly together, moving in the wind, and catching the light of the sun. His green hair looks so incredibly soft that it makes a shiver run up Sanji’s hands. He has a bruise on his cheek, from where Sanji kicked him last night, red in the middle and purple on the sides. His lips look parched and, as soon as Sanji thinks that, a tongue comes out to lick them. Sanji feels a shiver run up his spine, and pushes back some inappropriate thoughts. He sighs and crosses the short distance that keeps him from the marimo. It's no time to start getting cold feet.

He didn’t actually plan out what he wants to say, he realises as he lean against the rail. The swordsman tenses up at his approach, and Sanji keep himself from reaching out and put a hand on his back, to try to ease out the tension. The rational part of him knows that would only increase it. He tries to think of something to start this awful conversation and comes out empty, so he just thinks fuck it, it’s not like he’s been mr smooth talker until then, and blurts out :

“Zoro, I…” But Zoro turns to look at him, his eyes wide, his face open and wanting, and all words die on Sanji’s tongue. He can’t look away from the man, is suddenly staring right at the precipice, trying to decide if it’s worth it to jump in. He never realised it before but Zoro has some light freckles running through his cheeks. They’re barely darker than his skin, which explains why he never noticed them before. He’s taken back by the sight, his breath stolen. They stay frozen like this for who knows how long, an hour, 5 seconds, 10 minutes? It doesn’t matter, Sanji thinks, he could stare at the swordsman’s face forever. And

oh.

Oh. Suddenly all the pieces fall into the place. He feels like a schoolgirl with a crush. He constantly stares at the other man, thinks about his hands running through his hair, cupping his jaw, thinks about pushing him down and taking him apart. He wants to protect him, to see him achieve his dream, to always be by his side. It’s like the freckles, he thinks, something that’s been staring him in the face since forever but that he couldn’t see until he actually took the time to look at it. He doesn’t just have a crush or want to kiss the swordsman against his fridge or whatever. He’s in love with Zoro.

He’s in love.

With Zoro

An absolutely stupid smile spreads on his face at the realisation. Oh, he’s been such a fucking dumbass, reaching Luffy levels of idiocy really. Zoro’s still staring at him with huge wanting eyes, staring at his mouth actually, Sanji suddenly realises. Holy shit, he thinks Zoro might want to kiss him. He swallows, mouth suddenly dry. Zoro follows the movement of his Adam’s apple, and leans in. Sanji breathes in. He feels the swordsman’s breath, so close to him. He closes his eyes. He leans in, jumps into the pit;

“LAAAAAAAAAAAND!” yells out Luffy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, hope you liked it! Next chapter will probably be up in the next two days because I'm going crazy over this project lmao. Kudos and comments are incredibly appreciated, you can come chat @kimodraw on twitter if you want


	5. You could drown in those eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You could drown in those eyes, I said.  
> The fact of his pulse,  
> the way he pulled his body in, out of shyness or shame or a desire  
> not to disturb the air around him.  
> Everyone could see the way his muscles worked,  
> the way we look like animals,  
> his skin barely keeping him inside.
> 
> [...]
> 
> I wanted to be wanted and he was  
> very beautiful, kissed with his eyes closed, and only felt good while moving.  
> You could drown in those eyes, I said,  
> so it’s summer, so it’s suicide,  
> so we’re helpless in sleep and struggling at the bottom of the pool.
> 
> \- Little beast - Richard Siken
> 
> No i wont ever stop with the siken quotes 
> 
> Things are! heating up!!

Sanji’s going to kill Luffy. He’s going to kick the little shit into the ground, pummel him until he’s reduced to a jam like state, and then maybe he’ll throw that overboard for good measure too. Who the hell does he think he is, ruining his whole thing? Sanji is planning out all the ways he’s going to murder his captain as he jumps off the boat and onto the beach.

The island they reached is ridiculously small, and he wonders how people can possibly live their entire lives on it. From the beach, he can see a small town next to a forest. They’ll be there in less than an hour, and if everything goes well, their doubles should be back in their own timelines by the end of the day.

He starts walking towards the houses, still furious at his idiot of a captain. As soon as his voice rang through the air, Zoro jumped away from him, face flushed, eyes wide and terrified. The whole crew went up to the prow of the ship to point excitedly at the island, and Sanji was left with the ghost of a feeling on his lips as he joined them.

The thing that turns his insides out is that Zoro hasn't looked at him once since. He immediately distanced himself from the chef, and is now waking a few feet ahead of him, his shoulders set in a straight line. And if that doesn't mean that Sanji fucked up in some way, then he doesn't get it.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Sanji feels his rage turn against him, a voice angrier by the second berating him. He probably misinterpreted the swordsman’s expressions, projected his own ugly feelings onto the other man, hoping for some kind of reciprocation. Zoro probably just thought the whole situation was weird and gross, and he needed a way to let out his frustrated energy, but not in the same way Sanji did. He didn't fight the chef just to touch him, to get close to him, in a disgusting misplaced hope for some tenderness. And all the blushing and throwaway glances? Well fuck, that was probably the weirdness of it all creeping him out. Or worse, maybe it's pity. Oh Sanji could just kill himself!

He can at least comfort himself with plausible deniability. Because nothing did actually happen, did it? They didn’t kiss, and you can’t accuse someone of harboring unrequited feelings over tender looks and unasked questions. They can just pretend nothing ever happened, and he can slowly go back to a normal headspace, without his heart making somersaults in his chest every time the swordsman looks at him. Said heart objects to that, but his whole body needs to shut the fuck up and let him handle this. He’s the one in charge here, and if he wants to stop himself from being in love, he can do as he pleases!

Urgh, and here’s the dreaded word again. Love. Since he realised his own feelings, Sanji can’t stop the word from popping up all over his mind. Isn’t love supposed to be a nice feeling, all sunshine and sweet kisses? Because so far, he’s mostly been filled with dread. He might just jump out of his skin if anyone touches him. He thought admitting his feelings, at least to himself, would have some kind of cathartic effect, let him breathe again. But no, he hates himself even more now that he can put a name to the terrifying pit in his stomach.

He clings to the hope of things returning to normal soon. Now that he knows what’s been killing him inside, and that their older selves will be coming back to their timeline, surely he can force this infatuation to die out, tame the blaze inside his chest until it’s nothing but a few lukewarm flames. A traitorous part of him rebels at the thought : what if he doesn’t want to repress this thing, to hide this hungry beast? What if he could feed it, what if he could have what he wants, and more? He furiously shakes his head, images of soft touches and tender kisses making him blush. No, he’ll deny himself this, and he’ll grow to be okay with it. He just has to. He stares at Zoro’s back the whole way to the town anyway.

When they arrive, he doesn’t trust himself to talk to any of the locals so he stays back, letting Robin and his older self lead most of the conversations. The inhabitants are surprised to see new people on their island, saying barely anyone even knows it exists. They seem pretty friendly though, and they at least haven’t caught on to the fact that they’re pirates, so things might go smoothly. Robin asks them about their faith and their faces instantly close up. They start to whisper between themselves, and Sanji gets ready to interpose between them and Robin. He knows she doesn’t exactly need protection but he’s itching for some action.

Their leader turns back to Robin and smiles, but his eyes are cold and menacing, and Sanji stays on his guard. He tells her he can show them the church, if she so desires, and they follow him to a wooden building in the center of the town. When they walk in, someone is kneeling in front of the altar, their back turned to them. The man who brought them in calls out to the figure, his voice trembling :

“Miss, some strangers were curious about God’s power, so I brought them to talk to you, if you don’t mind.”

The person on the floor turns back. It’s a frail young girl, dressed in a long white dress that drapes around her knees. She’s covered in freckles, and has bright red hair tied in up intricate braids. She looks even more surprised to see them than the locals, her eyes wide and her lip quivering. She almost looks fearful as she gets up to face them. No, strike that, she looks positively terrified, Sanji thinks as they get closer. Robin puts on her best “I’m trying to befriend a lost baby deer in the woods” face and asks the girl :  
“Hey, Anya was it? Listen, we’ve come a long way to find you, because we’ve heard of a power of yours? See, our friends here” she points to the older Sanji and Zoro “are from the future, and we could use a little help bringing them back to their home.”

Anya turns to the swordsman and the chef, eyes bouncing from the younger to the older versions. Then she crosses her arms and turns back to Robin, biting her lip and furrowing her brows.

“How distant is their future?” Her voice is one of a child, high and acute, but it’s also determined. Sanji doesn’t know what to think of her.

“10 years.” answers Robin.

“Hmm” Anya ponders for a while, lost in thought. She remains focused for so long that Sanji wonders if she isn’t bullshiting them, if she has any idea what she’s doing at all. Then she looks back at Robin and nods, determination stretched out on every line of her face.

“Yeah i can do that.”

Cheers erupt as the girl turns to the older men, who are holding hands and grinning at each other.

“We’ll be sure to pass along our greetings to the pirate king when we see him Luffy!” says the older Zoro, two fingers held up to his forehead in a salute. Anya freezes in her tracks, hands pulled into tight fists.

“What did you just say?” Her voice is ice cold, sends a shiver down Sanji’s spine.

“Uuuh...” the swordsman answers, lost and suddenly worried of the 5 foot tall teenager in front of him. She turns to Luffy, pure anger pulsating from her tiny frame :

“Pirate king?”

Luffy, once again apparently totally unable to read the fucking room, answers with a wild grin and an hand behind his head :

“Yeah, I’m going to be the next pirate king!”

Time freezes. No, literally. Or, well, it doesn’t exactly freezes, but slows down until Sanji’s thoughts turn into molasses. Unable to move, he sees Anya move up incredibly fast to Luffy, the blaze of her hair flying behind her. She raises a hand to his forehead, brushes it with her fingertip, and yells :

“Then I can’t let you leave!” And Luffy disappears. He just fucking plops out of existence, doesn’t even leave his sunhat behind.

Sanji sees red and leaps at the girl. She better have a way to bring back his captain. Because, sure, he was planning to kill him a mere hour ago, but hey, that’s his private thoughts, and no one but him gets to kill people on this crew anyway! From the corner of his eye, he sees Zoro attack Anya too, his 3 blades swinging. But he can’t even land a kick before a finger grazes his forehead, and then he isn’t in the room anymore.

He crashes head first into the dirt, gasping for air. When he gets back up, the church is gone. Actually, the whole town is gone. He’s in the middle of a forest, dark trees stretching out to the sky. And oh, great, Zoro is there. He suddenly feels so incredibly mad that he kicks a tree, just to release some of his pent up rage.

“What the fuck are you doing, you complete moron?”

Wonderful, the first words the idiot he’s in love with has addressed him since they arrived, and they make him want to tear out his hair even more. Could this day really get any worse?

“Fuck off, will you?” he yells back, anger pulsing in his heart, his leg fuming.

“No, actually, you know what, I won’t! If you didn’t notice already, we’re properly fucked, alone and away from the rest of the crew, because we got our asses kicked by a teenage girl! So if you want to waste your energy trying to start a deforestation with the power of your magical kicks, live your truth, but I’m actually going to try to save Luffy and our fucking skin with it!”

He’s all up in Sanji’s face now, and he’s got another one coming if he thinks the chef is going to let himself be talked to like that. He spits out :

“You think I don’t care about Luffy?!”

“Well if you do, stop fucking around and actually do something to help!” Zoro yells back, arms flailing around.

“Whatever. This is all your fault anyway.”

“My fault?” the swordsman roars “How is any of this my fucking fault?!”

“Well older you’s fault anyway! Different timelines, same stupid sea plant brain! It’s a wonder you can even walk around with an head so empty. Say, does it hurt when your one brain cell knocks around in your hollow skull?

“I’m going to fucking kill you, you shit cook!” Zoro unleashes his swords. Sanji is nothing but fury, fire burning through his veins, a enraged scowl deforming his face.

“Yeah? Come at me dipshit!” he yells back, and pulls up his leg to block out Zoro’s attack, the aftershock of the hit sending waves through his whole body. He kicks back with absolute fury, sending Zoro flying into a tree, and walks to him, rage distorting his features.

“I fucking hate you.” he says, and he feels it in that moment, feels anger, disgust, shame and love mix into his heart until they’re indistinguible, and he doesn’t know which part is directed at himself and which part is for the swordsman, so he just throws it all at him.

“No you fucking don’t.” snarls Zoro.

“Don’t tell me what I feel, asshole! Why do you care anyway?!” Sanji grabs at Zoro’s shirt, waves of anger shaking his arms.

“Why do you care?!”

“Because I’m in love with you, you absolute fucking idiot!”

He just said that out loud, didn’t he? He actually yelled out his love to the idiot moss-head, who’s looking at him with the widest eyes he’s ever seen. It’s almost funny, like they’re about to pop out of their sockets. Oh my god, he just told Zoro he’s in love with him. The words hang in the air between them, impossible to take back. Time manipulating powers seem pretty neat right this moment, he thinks. Fuck it, he’s going to start a new life in this forest, befriend the squirrels and shit. He’s about to start running away when a hand twists in his shirt and another grabs at his hair and  
Lips on his.  
And Zoro shoves his mouth against his, desperate and hungry and everything he’s ever wanted. He stays frozen for a moment while his brain fucking explodes, and then he realises the girl must have killed him and sent him to heaven, and he kisses Zoro back. It’s messy and wet, and the angle is all wrong, but it’s the best kiss he’s ever had. He grabs Zoro’s shoulders to steady himself, because he thinks his legs might just give up on him.

Zoro’s hand is grabbing and actually pulling at his hair, and he thinks he might have just moaned into Zoro’s mouth but he’s in too deep to even care. His hands find Zoro’s face and cup at his jaw, stroking his cheeks with his thumbs, as the swordsman pulls him closer and bites at his lip and holy fuck, he really can’t believe this is actually going on but he’s going to let this illusion have its way because this is the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

Zoro grabs at the back of his shirt, turns him around and shoves him against the tree, hard, and roaming hands are suddenly on his chest, and Sanji can’t do much but grab at Zoro’s hair (so, so soft oh my god he knew it) and pull his mouth back towards his. Their tongues meet and Sanji’s brain really is just goo at this point. He might never have another coherent thought in his life, and really he doesn’t give a shit if Zoro can keep doing whatever it is he’s doing with his tongue. He can taste sake and salt in the man's mouth, thinks he'll never make a dish as good as that

Zoro pulls back, and Sanji fucking whines at the sudden loss, and he could kill himself for that but then Zoro’s biting at his neck and he can feel the bastard grinning against his throat and now he could kill him. He doesn’t really have time to plan out this murder though, because of the sudden pressure between his legs, making him gasp into Zoro’s ear and fuck, yeah, ok, Zoro’s got a leg pressed up against his crotch. Sanji’s hands run up and down Zoro’s back, pulling him closer. He’s left breathing hard and almost crying out as the swordsman pushes him into the tree and takes him apart, thigh pressed upon him and teeth grazing his neck. He bites at Zoro’s earlobe, tongue running around his golden earrings, and Zoro actually moans into his neck, making shivers run all over Sanji’s body. Oh, he could listen to that noise forever. He grabs at the man’s hair, pulling him back into another kiss, when he hears a familiar but distant voice.

“Hey, I found them!”

Sanji could not give less of a shit about whoever is talking though, as he grabs Zoro’s ass and feels the man moan into his mouth.

“Oh, uh...Oh my god...Hey guys?”

That voice is getting pretty annoying, but Sanji still elects to ignore it, as Zoro’s hand is grabbing and rubbing at his thigh.

“Guys? I’m really happy for you but we don’t know how long the portal is going to stay open and uh, could you just like, follow me?...Please?”

Sanji’s synapses finally start to work again and he pushes the swordsman's away and opens his eyes in the same movement. Usopp is standing a few feet away from them, a hand covering his eyes. Sanji’s still breathing heavily, and he tries to collect himself and hide his boner at the same time, which takes up a lot of his brain power, which explains why it takes him so long to reply :

“What?”

Usopp peaks behind his fingers, seems incredibly relieved to see they’re not sucking faces anymore and points behind him, at what can only be described as a giant hole in the middle of the woods. It’s the size of two men, and everything in it is pitch black. Sanji thinks he might be having an aneurysm. It’s really hard to think right now. Usopp looks at them expenciantly, points to the portal, then turns back to them.

Sanji turns to Zoro, and wow, first of all, the swordsman looks fucking amazing. His face is flushed, his hair is sticking out in all directions and his shirt is all ruffled up. He looks as disheveled as Sanji feels, and that just does something to his heart. What does even more to his poor heart though, is the look on Zoro’s face. He’s staring at him with a big grin on, like he’s the happiest man ever, like he wanted this as much as Sanji did. Like he didn't hear anything Usopp just said, too, the fucking idiot. Sanji bites at his lip, trying to keep the same goofy grin from his face, and totally fails at it

“Guys?!” Usopp’s voice is getting desperate. So Sanji grabs Zoro’s wrist and runs up to the portal, following Usopp. He looks in. Everything is dark. He turns back to Zoro, who’s looking at him like he’s his entire world.

He jumps in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoped you liked it! There should be one more chapter coming, and then I'll probably post a little bonus thing with an explicit rating lmao
> 
> Come chat @kimodraw on twitter if you want!


	6. There's a party, and cake too!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand it's done! Hope you enjoyed reading this little thing, it was incredibly fun to write and I hope I'm going to keep this fanfiction train going, because it's a very nice activity. Anyway, the reaction to this story has been incredible, and I'm super glad people have liked it.
> 
> I'm probably gonna write a little side thing, that will work as some kind of epilogue (but basically they'll just fuck and be happy lmao) so look out for that!
> 
> Have fun with this last chapter!

They’re back in the church, and everyone is there. Luffy is standing in the middle of the room, and Sanji’s so relieved he could die. He’ll never get used to it, seeing his friends on the verge of death, thinking he’ll never talk to them again. Older Sanji and Zoro are holding a kneeling Anya by the shoulders in front of the altar. Her face is deformed by an angry scowl, and it looks like she’s been crying. Sanji’s about to ask what happened, when the church’s huge wooden doors open up, and another girl, tall, muscular, dressed in loose bright blue clothing, dark dreadlocks bouncing on her back, comes running in:

“Anya! What did they do to you? Let her go you monsters!” she yells out to the men.Thankfully, they don’t listen to her and keep a strong hold on the girl. The intruder falls to her knees and takes Anya’s face in her hands in a desperate tender touch. She rubs her thumbs on her cheeks, drying her tears. 

“What happened?” she asks, voice trembling.

“I couldn’t let them leave” sobs Anya. “He said he’s going to become pirate king. And they said he actually is in their future! You have to be the one who finds the One Piece Riley, it’s your dream! You have to go and become pirate king and that way we can leave together. I just, I couldn’t let them ruin this for us, but they were strong and I’m just too weak and I’m sorry Riley I just…”

Riley cuts her off with a tender kiss, cupping her face in her hands. 

“Baby, it’s ok.” She says when she lets go, her face still only a few centimeters away from Anya’s. “You’re not weak, and you didn’t have to do all that.”

“But I, we…”

“Hey, a little competition is okay! We’ve always known I’m not the only one trying to find the One Piece. And who’s that future pirate king you’re talking about anyway?. Anya points to Luffy and Riley gets up, her eyes running up and down their captain’s frame.

“This noodle limbed kid? Yeah, I’m shaking in my boots.” She goes back to Anya, crouching in front of her and smiling : 

“It’s only one possible future babe, and I’m not going to let some idiotic boy steal our future away from us. And we don’t even need the One Piece to run away together, you know. Pirate king or not, you’ll still be my queen.”

Anya breaks down in tears, snot running down the other girl’s shoulder as she desperately hugs her.

“Can you please let go of my girlfriend now?” asks Riley. “She promises she won’t freeze you in a time pocket again.”

Older Sanji and Zoro share a guilty glance and take of their hands off of Anya’s shoulders, letting her fall into Riley’s arms. The two girls share a tender embrace, Riley running a hand through Anya’s hair and soothing her down. Sanji feels like he’s intruding on a private moment, and avoids his eyes from the scene. He ends up looking at his older self, who’s looking right at him, a smile on. It’s then he realises he still hasn't let go of Zoro’s wrist. He blushes, almost drops his hand, but decides he’s done with running away, and keeps a steady hold. Older Sanji has an incredibly irritating “told you so” expression on, and Sanji decides to ignore it, instead looking back at Zoro. 

The swordsman throws a small smile at him. He shakes his wrist and Sanji’s terrified he fucked everything up again as he lets it go, but then Zoro’s hand is in his, and their fingers intertwine, and nothing has ever felt this right. Zoro’s palm is calloused against his, and he can feel a thousand little scars running across the man’s skin as he rubs a thumb on it. They fit perfectly together, he thinks, and barely hates himself for the incredibly gooey cheesy line. Zoro looks at their hands, then up at him and smiles bright, a twinkle in his eyes. Sanji could look at that face forever, he thinks.

Then Zoro looks away and steps out of their private little bubble, asking :

“Could anyone tell me what the fuck just happened?”

And Usopp starts to explain how they all lost their shit when the three of them disappeared, and desperately tried to fight Anya, but couldn't subdue her as she kept slowing time and freezing them. Then older Sanji kicked her so hard they could all move normally again, and him and older Zoro quickly grabbed her. Then they told her to bring Luffy, Sanji and Zoro back, and she couldn’t do much but agree, her arms bent behind behind her back by the two men. So she opened up a portal and Nami walked in it only to get out a few minutes later, dragging Luffy, who was now sporting a nasty bump on the forehead, by the collar. Then Anya opened up another portal, and Usopp went and found them. Usopp looks mortified as those last words, face red, looking everywhere but at them. 

“So her power…” Zoro begins.

“It’s a devil fruit, right?” Robin finishes. Anya disangle from Riley’s arms, her eyes still red. 

“Yeah. I ate it when i was 12. It’s how we keep the power going from one generation to the next. They all think god chose me but it’s really just a fruit the priest made me eat. It tasted terrible too.” 

Robin, Luffy, Brook and Chopper laugh at that, a connivance shared between devil fruit users. Sanji and Zoro are still holding hands, and Sanji notices Nami’s eyes on him. He looks at her and she gives him a bright smile and a thumbs up and by god he loves her dearly, would never think badly of the best and prettiest navigator the world has ever seen but could she, maybe, in her infinite wiseness, stop doing that little victory dance at him? He keeps a hold of Zoro’s hands but god, he isn’t looking forward to the conversations they’ll have with the rest of the crew. 

Older Sanji goes up to Anya and asks her if she could maybe actually send them back to their timeline now? Not that this hasn’t been a riot or anything but well, he had a chicken in the oven when they left and he hopes their whole house hasn’t burned down. Anya aquessies, lets go of Riley, closes her eyes and does something complicated with her arms. A large pitch black hole appears in front of the altar, and older Sanji and Zoro smile. They look back to their younger selves and nod. 

“Take care of each other” older Sanji says, and Sanji blushes. 

“I will.” he answers, and squeezes Zoro’s hand. Then the older men step in the portal, and everything is over. 

But then Sanji’s head pops back out, a wild grin on, and he asks :

“Actually, do you guys want to step in and take a quick peek? Lunch is just about done and there’s plenty to go around.” 

Luffy cheers loudly at the mention of food, and runs into the portal, pushing Sanji’s face to get in quicker. Not about to let their captain run into danger, or a delicious meal alone, everyone follows him. Sanji steps in, still holding on to Zoro’s hand, and closes his eyes at the sudden brightness from the other side. When he opens them, the view takes his breath away. They’re in a huge kitchen, walls painted yellow, with a massive bay window looking out on the sea. The sky is blue, the sun high in it, and the waves shine bright. There’s a huge table in the middle of the room, and it’s filled with nothing but delicious looking food and friends. 

The whole crew is there, plus some other people he doesn’t recognise, notably a short girl with rabbit ears and a little snout instead of a nose. The two Luffy are apparently trying to see who can hug the other tighter, elastic arms wrapping around each other and loud laughs filling the room. The older luffy has a scar under his eyes, and Sanji’s sure there’s a great story behind that. He's pretty sure Usopp's pissed himself from seeing his tall and muscular future self, sporting some faded white scars under his pecs. Every member of the crew goes up all excited to talk to their future selves, and there’s dancing and singing and happy shouting and Sanji’s so happy he feels his heart could explode.

Nami hasn’t run up to her other self yet, she’s stuck in her tracks next to him, mouth hanging open and cheeks flushed. He’s about to ask her what’s wrong when he notices them. Future Nami and Vivi, sitting together next to the window, knees touching, holding hands. Hands with two beautiful diamand rings on them. Tears start to fall down Nami’s cheek and she slowly walks towards the couple, before burying herself into Vivi, who laughs and gives her a bone crushing hug. 

HIs older self grabs at Sanji’s arm then, and tells him:

“Alright give me a hand before these two idiots” he looks at the Luffys who are currently poking at and punching each other “remember I promised them food. “ So Sanji gets pulled into a last minute cooking frenzy, dancing around the room, until the meal starts and he gets to sit down. Questions fuze, everyone happily yells and sings and laughs and Sanji feels a quiet kind of happiness settle in his heart, the kind that never truly leaves. He realises this is what he can call home.

Later, when the meal is done and little groups start to form around the room, Sanji gets away from it all, needing some calm. He’s smoking a cigarette outside the little house, taking in the view of the beach and quiet sea. His future self lives on a small island with Zoro, in a cottage right by the sea, a few kilometers away from the nearby town. They run a restaurant there, and it’s made the island extremely popular, people coming from all around the world to taste the black leg’s famous dishes. 

Millionaires are ready to spend all or their riches on his future self’s food, but Sanji always make sure anyone who comes in leaves with the post bliss expression of a delicious meal, no matter the depth of their pocket. No one goes hungry as long as Sanji is around. It’s perfect, Sanji thinks, this life. It’s everything he wants, and he can’t wait to live here. He also can’t wait to experience the journey that leads him to this.

He sees Zoro come out of the house and smiles as the other man comes to sit next to him. Zoro takes his hand in it and fuck, he’s never going to get used to it, is he? This absolute bliss that turns his brain into sludge and makes his heart crawl out of his chest. It’s just the new norm, now that Zoro looks at him with stars in his eyes and comes up to hold his hand and kisses him like he wants it all as much as Sanji does. Zoro lips taste of wine and the cheese he just ate and Sanji happily kisses him back, a grin spreading on his face. Zoro pulls back and looks at him like he’s everything he’s ever needed, and Sanji can almost believe it, can almost believe he’s enough. Zoro squeezes his hand :

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Sanji croaks out, like it means anything. And in that moment, he feels like it does, his whole heart on the edge of his throat.

“I didn’t say it, back then, in the forest. But…”

Sanji’s fallen so deep. He jumped in the pit at the edge of his heart, found out he could fly, is all blissed out on the discovery. He thinks he’s so happy right now nothing can take him further, but then Zoro’s words reach his ears.

“...I love you too, shit cook.”

And oh he’s so glad he let himself fall in love with the idiot, Sanji thinks as he cups Zoro’s jaw in his hand and kisses him tenderly, heart exploding in a thousand little confetti in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, kudos and commentaries are treasured. You can come chat with me @kimodraw on twitter if you want. I also posted some art of Anya and Rilley if you're interested


End file.
